Eight-foot fence erected in step towards safer Sandpoint Beach

Higher fence at Sandpoint The City has installed a higher fence around the western waterfront of Sandpoint Beach after recent drownings. CTV Windsor's Travis Fortnum.

The City of Windsor has installed a higher fence around the westernmost waterfront of Sandpoint Beach after a deadly current claimed two more lives last month.

It was May 23 when two men in their 20s, Yogesh Bajgai and Rohit Dheer, waded into the water.

A witness told police he watched them get pulled under.

Their bodies were recovered the following day.

Their deaths make eight in the waters there since Sandpoint opened in 1980.

Angelo Marignani, the city councillor representing the area, described the brutality of the current in the area.

“Imagine walking on the edge of Niagara Falls and stepping right over the edge,” he said.

“Imagine the pull down that you would get. That's what you get at the trench that has been constructed to allow the Lakers to unload their aggregates.”

The city has also strung out the buoys at the beach meant to mark a safe spot for swimming, though it’s unclear if any of the measures would have saved Bajgai and Dheer.

Marignani said witnesses told him the pair had left the beach altogether and waded into the water to the west – off private property owned by the Anchor Corporation.

“I hope that they improve their fencing as well,” the councillor said of the company.

“Everyone's kind of looking at how can we make this safer? Let's prevent this from happening again.”

Plans working their way through city hall would see Sandpoint beach completely redone to entirely shift it away from the current – but Marignani said it would be months before they’re back before council.

“I'm confident that our mayor and council will support this,” he said.

As Bajgai and Dheer’s families grieve the losses of the two young men, online fundraisers have been set up .

Bajgai’s uncle previously told CTV News he was the sole breadwinner, supporting his ailing mother and siblings.

Dheer’s family hopes to bring his body back to India.